"background save" & "auto-recover"

[Ponch]

Ok, let's say a user (not me obviously) closes Word and chooses "DON'T save" , then asks for the automatically saved versions of his file he worked on since few hours...

Both "background save" and "auto recover" are active. I believe "autorecover" is the ~one that reopens when Word has crashed. Now where or what is the "background saved" document (if any, when the user chooses not to save and exits, in which case, what's the difference with auto recover from the user's point of view) ?

Thanks.

[skylark53]

Hi Ponch,

Here are the results of some tests I've just done. I don’t know whether this helps in your friend’s case, but it makes me feel safer to know what the possibilities and capabilities are.

Best,

Sky

________________________________________

I’m going to edit this little file (s***.doc) for test purposes.

“Background save” is on, and I’ve got “auto-save” set to every 1 minute. We shall see what happens when I fail to save the file specifically, either as I go along or at the end.

Now of course (although the file ~$s***.doc is present), no TMP files are appearing in the current folder because I haven’t specifically said “save”. Presumably the auto-recover file is somewhere, but it’s not here.

Ok, now about 3-4 mins have gone by, so several saves have taken place – somewhere. I’m going to close without saving...

=> And of course, in the folder concerned, no new version was created. Nor, in a system-wide search, could I find any system or application files with the right date & time. So when you close the edit with “don’t save”, Word assumes you meant what you said and clears up all the temporary files.

Now I’ll just type in this new line, wait a couple of minutes to allow at least one save, then I’ll cause Word to crash. Again, I have done no deliberate “saves” since opening this new edit.

=> And what happened was that no save files appeared anywhere, but the next time I opened a Word file (and it was a different one), I was prompted: did I want to recover the auto-saved version of the file I’d been editing when Word crashed? I said yes, and it then recovered the text into this foreign file. Then it offered options either to delete the saved version, or save it as a new file. (So the foreign file into which the text had been recovered was not affected.)

Third test: what happens if, as I edit, I do specific saves every so often? I get a temporary (ordinary Word) file in this folder, ~WRL1234.tmp - note this doesn’t incorporate your most recent edits. (Note that these .tmp files are not created when auto-save is set to 1 minute, because Word realises it already has the text saved.)

=> And what happened was that 1) the ~WRL1234.tmp files remained (and each, even post-recovery, is an editable Word file), 2) when I next opened the file in Word, I was offered the recovery option, which I took, and everything then recovered.

So, conclusions:

1) If you close the edit without saving, Word believes you know what you’re doing and deletes temporary files. This is true even if you have done specific saves (giving .tmp files).

2) If Word crashes, you will be fine whether or not you have done specific saves.

Edited February 17, 2008 by geek
The contents of that document are not relevant to your post.

[Ponch]

Thanks for your time, I didn't ask for someone to spend an hour on this . So if I understand, those background saved files can be used "as history" if the file has been saved with errors "by mistake" and this only while the file is still open.

Further more, the option is no help in any of the 3 possible "after Word scenario".

-you saved your document and saved yourself

-Word or your PC crashed and auto-recover saves you.

-you chosed not to save and are out of luck, by your own stupidity (he's not a friend ).